[Editor's Note: The following ran in issue #24 of CCSTSG Enterprises,
the monthly newsletter of the Central Connecticut Star Trek Support
Group (7 Quarry St./Vernon, CT 06066, for more info), a few weeks ago.
At Shore Leave 14, in Hunt Valley, MD, on the weekend of July 11-12,
1992, Majel Barrett Roddenberry addressed the large audience on the
subject of Deep Space Nine by reading extensive excerpts out of the
"writer's bible" and answering questions. She also made some interesting
comments on other issues surrounding Trek in the post-Gene era. I
captured Majel's presentation on tape and transcribed it for my
newsletter. Note: I have verified the spelling of proper names where
possible, but some discrepancies may exist.]
 
Majel Barrett Roddenberry speaking:

The first thing I'd really like to do is to thank all of you who did
send cards and letters last year. I've come to tell you that I
appreciate it from the bottom of my heart. I've tried to send back
thank-you notes to everyone. I hope you all got them. The second thing I
want to thank you for is having me back here again. I think it was
probably about four or five years ago that I was here before. It could
be twenty eight as far as I know -- I don't know, I've been hanging
around Star Trek that long.

Now, I don't talk, I don't give speeches or anything like that. Gene
did that. And I don't sing -- Michelle does that. Jimmy tells jokes with
an accent. All I do is gossip, so... So basically, I'm here for you to
ask me questions and I'll try to answer them. If I don't know the
answer, I'll make one up.

What I am going to do, though, in whatever order you'd like it, is to
tell you about Deep Space Nine. I have the Bible with me. You can't have
it, I'm not allowed to sell it to you or give it to you, or let you look
at it, but I certainly can read it to you. If you would like me to start
with that I will. [Applause] Okay. It would take me a long time to read
it word for word, so I'm going to do a little bit of skipping, but
you're going to get the general idea:

[Reading from the series bible:]  Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, the
series, set in the next generation of Star Trek lore, follows a team of
Starfleet officers who take command of an alien space station situated
near the Bejoran Worm Hole, one of the most strategic locations in the
galaxy. The Bejoran Worm Hole. Worm holes, simply put, are shortcuts
through space. You go in one end, come out the other in seconds to find
yourself billions of kilometers away. All known worm holes previously
encountered in the Star Trek universe have been unstable. Their ends can
whip randomly around the universe, and they last for brief periods of
time before collapsing. But in our pilot episode, the first stable worm
hole is discovered near the Denarias asteroid field close to the planet
Bejor. Like other worm holes it is only visible when an object enters or
exits through it. A brief journey through the Bejoran Worm Hole will
take a starship to the Gamma Quadrant, normally a sixty-year journey at
warp9. The ride is a spectacular light show: very brilliant colors
surround the ship, while inside, strange visual distortions affect
perceptions as passengers tear through the space-time continuum. This
worm hole is a new passage way to hundreds of unexplored sectors of
space and it will turn Bejor into the leading center of commerce and
scientific exploration in the sector, attracting travelers from all over
the galaxy. In the first episode, we learn that the worm hole has been
artificially created by a species of aliens that do not live in the same
space-time continuum as we do. Thus, we encounter them unexpectedly
within the worm hole itself. They have been sending out orb-like probes
from the worm hole, one orb every century for a thousand years, seeking
contact with other life forms. The Backstory. The Cardassians and Bejora
are known to Star Trek audiences. A century ago the Cardassians
conquered the planet Bejor, an ancient society dedicated to spiritual
pursuits. The mysterious orbs that have arrived each century are among
the fundamental sacraments of the Bejoran religion. Bejoran terrorism
during the last several decades has been a significant problem for the
Cardassians. Just before our series begins, the Cardassians have
completed mining operations on Bejor, stripping the planet of all its
resources. They have decided to unilaterally withdraw from Bejoran space
and give up the headaches that the Bejoran have caused them.

Well, they have not left quietly and in revenge for the years of
terrorism, the Cardassians ravaged the planet, poisoned the wells,
scorched the ground and, striking at the heart of the Bejoran people,
have desecrated the ancient monastery that is the center of spiritual
life. The Bejoran desperately need help. They've asked for membership in
the Federation and have been granted preliminary acceptance. But the
political situation on the planet is terribly unstable: factions that
have been united in opposition to Cardassian rule have resumed age-old
conflicts. The Starfleet team's mission is to spearhead the arduous
diplomatic and scientific efforts that accompany the lengthy entry
procedure. All of this is about to be complicated by the discovery of
the worm hole. Deep Space Nine. The station designated DS9 by Starfleet
was assembled haphazardly over several years by Cardassian and Bejoran
work teams and anybody else who happened to offer services at a premium.
It was used by the Cardassians primarily to monitor mining operations on
Bejor and to service incoming and outgoing crews. About two hundred
people, mostly Bejorans, still live there. By episode three, there will
be about fifty Starfleet officers and crewmen stationed there. When the
Cardassians abandoned Bejor they stripped the station of all advanced
technology and defense capability and the Starfleet team has a huge job
of making it operational again. In fact, it will never work up to our
re-quirements and will always be causing the engineering crew a lot of
headaches.

The Ops controls are a hub of activity; there are shuttle bays for
smaller vessels. On a given day there might be anywhere from 10 to 300
visitors to DS9, as ships come through  with foreigners, scientists,
merchants, and spies. Most of the visitors stay on their ships but there
are special quarters for some guests. In the first episode, we learn
that the ships power sources are destructive to the ionic field that is
home to the aliens who created the worm hole and live within a different
timeframe. During that experience, we are told how to travel through
without harming them.

One aspect of life on the space station hasn't changed since the
departure of the Cardassians. During their tenure they sold commercial
concessions to the highest bidder to provide services to the mining
crews. The result is the Promenade. Unlike any space interior ever seen
on Star Trek, it's somewhere between a free port and a flea market,
bustling with aliens of all sorts when a ship's in, intriguing and
unusual characters at every bend. There's gambling and smuggling, alien
grifters at work here, bars with sexual holo-suites upstairs. Right next
to the traditional ship's stores are the Bejoran temple and the kiosk
serving live food. Part of the job of the Starfleet team will be to try
to tame this honky tonk atmosphere. They will have Runabouts [ed: a new
class of smaller ships], which allow our characters to travel to
numerous star systems with a maximum speed of 4.7, operated by a two-man
crew, with a single pilot in control if necessary. They can transport up
to forty people, but that's a crowd. There are cramped, uncomfortable
sleeping quarters for six people. Bejor. Bejor is the world we will
visit most often because of its proximity to the space station. Striking
architecture with rounded domes and spherical shapes mark the landscape.
The ancient Bejora were great architects and engineers before humans
were standing erect. The people are deeply mystical. On their planet we
will find monks who meditate and chant in chords. They are people who
believe in spiritual phenomenon, are devoted to a nonsecular philosophy
that goes against the Federation's logical, scientific way of life.
Their religious leader, known as the Kai, is curious and insightful and
develops a strong bond with our Commander. The Characters. Benjamin
Sisko, human Starfleet commander with a twelve year-old son, whose
gentle, strong, soft spoken demeanor belies the temper that he is
constantly trying to control. And when he loses it, he gets furious with
himself. He's a man of action who gets impatient with too much talk, but
as he has become more mature, he's learned to stop and think twice about
losing control. He has a weakness for baseball, a sport that died out in
the 22nd century and he frequently goes to a holo-suite to have a chat
and a catch with one his legendary ballplayer heroes. Sisko was on a
starship with his wife and son at the famous encounter with the Borg led
by the "Borgified" Picard, and his wife was killed. That leads to
bitterness toward Picard. Picard: "Have we met before?" Sisko: "Yes, we
met in battle." Since that tragedy, he has been assigned to shore duty
on Mars where he was on the team reconstructing the fleet at Utopia
Benecia Yards. Sisko objected to being assigned to DS9. He told
Starfleet he had a son to raise and had been asking for an Earth
assignment, not this. His important work on DS9 gives him a new
direction, but his is still very much a life framed by tragedy.

Major Kira, a former major in the Bejoran underground. Kira is now an
outspoken critic of the provisional government. Having fought for
freedom all her life, it has angered her to see the older leaders throw
it all away through their petty dissensions. She has been trying without
success to reach the Kai herself to air her grievances. It is very
possible she was sent by the government to be the Bejoran administrator
at the space station simply to get her outspoken voice out of ear shot.
[Addressing the audience:] This part was to have been played by Ensign
Ro, but Michelle decided she wanted to try to be a movie star instead,
so she turned it down. And it's a shame because it was a good character.
But the character's just been renamed, the character will still be there
-- it just won't be Michelle who's playing it. [Reading again:] Kira
loathes the Cardassians. She committed atrocities against them in the
name of freedom, some of which bother her. But others in the Bejoran
underground begin a new wave of terrorism and she is forced into a moral
quandary about tracking them down and bringing them to justice. Former
terrorists consider her a turncoat.

Miles O'Brien... will be played by Colm Meany. [Applause] O'Brien has
been the transporter chief on NexGen for five years. This assignment
represents a promotion to Master Chief of Operations, and a tremendous
career opportunity for him. [ed: Not to mention Colm Meany.] He has a
wife, Keiko, and a three year-old baby girl, Molly. Molly just happens
to be Rick Berman's three year-old daughter. He will be in charge of the
comings and goings of vessels, plus the nuts and bolts maintenance of
the station. He's constantly frustrated by the jerry-rigged way this
place is put together. He saw the Cardassians commit unspeakable
atrocities and lost a close friend at the massacre at Setma III. The war
changed and hardened him. The first man he ever killed was a Cardassian
who jumped him on patrol. As he tells the story to another Cardassian in
the NexGen episode, "The Wounded," "I never killed anything before. When
I was a kid I would worry about having to swat a mosquito. It's not you
I hate, Cardassian: I hate what I became because of you."

Jadzia Dax is a science officer ranked lieutenant, an alien woman,
very attractive, late 20s. Dax is a Trill, the joint species first
encountered in the NexGen episode, "The Host." A Trill is comprised of
two separate but interdependent entities -- a host and a symbiont. The
host provided the humanoid body, the symbiont is an invertebrate,
androgynous life form that lives within the host. It looks like a short,
fat snake. Many centuries ago [on the Trills' home world], the symbionts
lived underground while the humanoids were on the surface. Due to an
environmental disaster, they were forced to join to survive. As time
went on this mutual support evolved to become a biological dependency,
and thus two individuals became one. They speak with one voice. The
symbiont's life span is far longer than the host's and, as a result, one
symbiont will be combined with several hosts during its life. When a
host dies, doctors surgically remove the symbiont. The worm then burrows
itself into the new host. Dax's host was joined with her when she was an
adult. The symbiont part of her is 300 years old, a brilliant scientist
with an innate wisdom who can draw upon a library of knowledge built of
six lifetimes of experience. Kira forms a very close relationship with
Dax and often tells her to loosen up. Dax admires Kira for her youthful
energy, her purpose and her drive and becomes something of a mentor to
her. Dax and Sisko have worked together before; the only problem is that
back then, Dax was still in the host body of an elderly man and was
something of a mentor to Sisko. Her sexually appealing new form will
create a certain tension between her and Sisko, which they will both
resist. After all, he's still having a hard time getting used to the
fact that she's a 300 year-old worm. But he does not hide the respect
and affection he has for her.

Odo, an alien male, middle-aged curmudgeon, and a shape-shifter. In
his natural state he is a gelatinous liquid. He was Bejoran law
enforcement officer on the space station under the Cardassians.
Starfleet decides to have him continue in that role, since he's
extremely savvy about the Promenade and all who frequent it. His back
story is: 50 years ago, with no memory of his past, he was found alone
in a mysterious space craft that appeared in the Denarias asteroid belt.
He was found by the Bejoran and lived amongst them. At first he was sort
of an Elephant Man, a source of curiosity and humor as he turned himself
into a chair or pencil. Finally he realized he would have to take the
form of a humanoid to assimilate and function in their environment. He
does it, but resents it. As a result, Odo performs a uniquely important
role in the ensemble: he is a character who explores and comments on
human values. Because he is forced to pass as one of us, his point of
view usually comes with a cynical and critical edge. But he can't quite
get it right, this humanoid shape, though he continues to try. So he
looks a little unfinished in a way. He's been working on it a long time.
Someone might ask him: "Why don't you take the form of a younger man."
His answer: "I would if I could." He has the "adopted child syndrome,"
searching for his own personal identity. Although he doesn't know
anything about his species, he is certain that justice is an integral
part of their being, because the necessity for it runs through every
fiber of his body -- a racial memory. That's why he became a law man. He
has a couple of Bejoran deputies; he doesn't allow weapons on the
Promenade, and once every day he must return to his gelatinous form.

Quark is the Ferengi bartender. The Ferengi race has been a part of
NexGen since the very beginning. They are ugly, sexist, greedy little
aliens who are interested only in profit and getting their hands on
anything of yours they happen to fancy. Quark runs many of the
entertainment concessions on DS9, including the bar, restaurant,
gambling house, and the holo-suites upstairs where your every fantasy
can be played out. He spends most of his time behind the bar. If there
is some scam being run in the sector it often involves him. But beyond
the mal-evolence he is a charming host, in a Ferengi sort of way, and
forges an interesting relationship with Sisko. They actually enjoy
sparring together now and then. The Ferengi lends a hand to dissolve a
problem for the commander -- as long as there's something in it for him.
His completely sexist attitude makes Kira an obvious adversary, and he
is consumed with passion for Dax.

Then we have Dr. Julian Amoros -- human male, mid 20s, rank of
lieutenant commander, fresh out of Starfleet, graduated second in class,
brilliant specialist in multi-species medicine. He arrives at DS9 with
gung-ho expectations about adventures in Starfleet. He's naive and
charming and cocky all at the same time. He's chosen this remote outpost
instead of the cushy job he was offered at Starfleet medical because
this is where the action is, where heroes are made, in the "wilderness."
Dr. Amoros is still wet behind the ears and has a lot to learn. He is
the antithesis of Kira who is street wise savvy but wiser and cynical.
O'Brien becomes Amoros' confidant As a man who has seen combat and a
decorated veteran of Starfleet duty, O'Brien represents an ideal to the
young doctor. Julian greatly respects Sisko, but is terrified of him. He
is anxious to live up the commander's expectations. Sisko is amused by
Julian and is very patient with him.

Recurring Characters. Jake Sisko, the commander's son. An Army brat
who doesn't remember life on Earth, has been aboard four different
starships, and stationed on two planets. This transient life style has
taught him how to scope out a new terrain and assimilate quickly. At the
same time he has an inner fear of forming new friendships because he
loses them so easily. He dreams of going to live on Earth. He collects
holodeck programs of various places on Earth that he uses to try to
fulfill his fantasy. Deep inside he knows that his mom would still be
alive if they did not live in space, and he has a suppressed bitterness
about it. His father promised there would be other kids on the station;
as it turns out there are only a handful of various alien species. Only
one is his age, Nog, a Ferengi teenage boy who is a bad influence. Jake
is close with his dad; they are buddies. The boy has no technical
expertise at all [great applause]. He struggles with his homework but is
dedicated to doing his best.

Keiko is O'Brien's wife. She wondered what a botanist would do on a
space station -- she was happy on the Enterprise -- but she agreed that
the promotion was an incredible opportunity for her husband. She's not
entirely happy on DS9, and in the early episodes she sees serious
shortcomings in the educational facilities and volunteers to be the
station's tutor.

Then there's Lwaxana Troi. [Loud applause: "I'm with you!"] Lwaxana
is Deanna's mother, established on NexGen as the Auntie Mame of the
galaxy. When circumstances bring her to the space station she forms a
romantic attachment to Odo and finds reasons to come back to see him. He
tries to discourage her: "Ma'am, I turn into a liquid form at night."
Lwaxana: "I can swim." [Audience glee: "Boy, we're off and running."]

One of the other Ferengi who works for Quark is his teenage son, Nog,
who becomes friends of the commander's son. Nog is a bad boy, the kind
of kid your parents didn't want you to associate with.

And Gil Ducket is a 40s male, deceptively amiable Cardassian
commander who represents the continuing threat to our people. The
military empire and its borders are only a short distance away from
Bejor and DS9. He used to be the Prefect of the Bejoran province when it
was under Cardassian denomination. Thus he is the former landlord of the
space station.

Kai Apaka is the spiritual leader of Bejor, who provides sharp
counterpoint to the secular nature of Starfleet. She challenges
conventional human logic. The Kai seems to have an awareness on a higher
plane of consciousness and knows things she cannot possibly know.
Although our people do not accepts her powers at face value, we cannot
always explain them, either. She speaks in vague, mystical indirect
language, forcing her listeners to seek her meaning.

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine brings into the Star Trek universe an
original set of characters as diverse and memorable as the crews of the
first two series. It also provides far more interpersonal conflict than
we've seen before in the 24th century. If, as Gene Roddenberry always
said, Star Trek is wagon train to space, then think of Deep Space Nine
as Fort Laramie on the edge of the frontier.

[Closing the Bible...] This one is going to have a lot more humor, a
lot more probably what you'd call "action," and a little sex and
violence. We're going to mix it up a little bit. I hesitate to use the
word violence -- you're all going to get the wrong idea. But I think you
know what I mean. It's not going to be even as cerebral as Star Trek.
So... I'm going to take questions now.

Q:     Did Gene have anything to do with this?!

Majel: [Laughing] Uh, he knew about it, but he was not about to become
       involved. He had done what he wanted to do and that was it. He just
       wished them Godspeed and go ahead. And as long as the name Star
       Trek is on it, yes, the estate will have a part of the action.

Q:     Will there be NexGen movies?

Majel:  NexGen actors have all signed on for a seventh year -- at least
        most of them have. There will be a seventh season, for sure. They
        were trying to get everybody to go for eight, but they've so far
        resisted it. I have a feeling that if we're still in the ratings
        the way we are now -- which is just incredible -- I can't see
        Paramount letting it die. What really could happen is, when this
        group graduates to movies, they might keep some of them on and fill
        in the other parts with new people. You know, captains change, and
        other officers change -- or they could go for a whole new cast and
        just keep on filling it in. I think Paramount is now at the stage
        where they feel that it's the vehicle that is the important thing
        -- and they're just going to keep it going as long as you guys
        want it... Under these circumstances, the 7th movie wouldn't happen
        for at least another three years. I can't see Paramount letting it
        go that long. There was some talk -- again, it's only a rumor --
        about perhaps trying to do another one with the old cast. Excuse
        the expression! They [the NexGen actors] work 8-9 months a year now,
        and only get two and a half months off, which isn't enough time to do
        a movie. And when you sell to syndication, those people buy 26
        episodes, you've got to make 'em 26 episodes. That's your contract
        and that's what has to be delivered. You can't say, "Well, fellas,
        we'll only give you 20 this year."  With Deep Space coming, what
        they'll be doing is running them in tandem. The NexGen will
        introduce Deep Space Nine, so in your home town, whatever station
        is carrying the NexGen does not have it backed up with Deep Space,
        yell at 'em. They'll listen to you. Really! It is being offered to
        the stations that are already carrying Next Generation. Other
        stations were coming in and saying, "We'll give you more money than
        you were asking for," and for a while I think Paramount toyed with
        it, then decided this was not real good public relations. So they
        went back and offered it on the same basis that the Next Generation
        is picked up on. And most of them have picked it up. If your channel
        has not, honest, yell at 'em! They listen to things like that.

Q:      Since Gene's death have you had different relations with the studio
        than before? i.e., Are you filling in where Gene was?

Majel:  No, not really. That's not my job, that's not my input. I stay away
        from all the creative heads of it and just go ahead and let them do
        their job. Gene had a marvelous machine going, and it's well-oiled
        and beautifully trained and it's working like magic and all they need
        is someone to stick their nose in. I have no contractual arrangements
        in any capacity -- at all.

Q:      Last November or December the Star Trek office was closed. What is
        the status of that? Is there any hope of getting it opened?

Majel:  Oh, the Star Trek office? It's not closed. It's just not Gene's
        office anymore. It's up in Rick and Mike's office. I mean, you ask
        for Star Trek and that's what you'll get. So his office was not
        really closed. It's just that his physical office was closed. You
        know, there was really no need to keep it open. You know, why have
        somebody sitting there doing nothing. All the mail comes to the house
        anyway, so... No, there aren't any real big changes.

Q:      Will Deep Space Nine be carrying a handicapped character?

Majel:  Not the way it is right now. They had, at one point, a very, very
        interesting character they said they worked and worked and worked
        on, and they just couldn't get the character to work. It was a doctor,
        and it was a female, and she was wheelchair bound because, there's no
        gravity on her original planet, and everybody floats. When everybody
        came to see her in her lab, they would have to be in a wheelchair,
        because there would be no gravity. It was a very interesting character,
        but they said they just couldn't make it work in connection with the
        other characters.

Q:      My question is a little personal. I don't want to make it too
        difficult for you, but you probably know better than anyone else how
        to answer this question: Do you think Gene was happy being remembered
        mainly for Star Trek? Or did he ever sometimes wish that people would
        remember the other things that he did in his life?

Majel:  Oh, I'll tell you that for awhile it was kind of touch and go. He
        said, I don't want to go away with my epitaph saying, "this is a
        tribute to the man who created Star Trek." And then it got to the
        point where Star Trek became a world and he could work on other
        projects and other things. And then it became a challenge. And then
        he worked so hard to get you people interested and get his ideas and
        everything across. And it finally became his life. By the end he
        really loved it. He was very, very appreciative of everything that
        had happened and I think it's rather remarkable that he was allowed
        to live long enough to see and reap some of the benefits of this,
        too, and to know how much people loved him and his show and his ideas
        and how part of his vision was coming true. I think that was the most
        important part. If there would be one thing that would be put on his
        epitaph, this is what he said: "I would like to see it say that 'He
        loved humanity.'" I would say that by the looks of everyone here,
        humanity loved him too.

Q:      I'm a really big virtual reality fan and I'm really glad that you
        guys put the holo-deck on the Next Generation. I've heard a lot of
        rumors about the "Elementary, My Dear Data" episode. Why wasn't there
        ever a sequel to it? Are they planning one?

Majel:  No. Can't. It's the Arthur Conan Doyle thing. I thought it was
        absolutely delightful and charming. And they wanted to do more with
        the character, but the estate came in and said uh-unh, not on your
        life. I think it's a big, big mistake. It gave new life and dimension
        to the characters. It's the same thing as when Gene wrote Tarzan. He
        did a combination of Tarzan and John Carter from Mars -- seeing as
        how the same author wrote them both. So he put them together and it
        got very, very sexy. 'Course I tell you, he went overboard on the
        Tarzan thing. There were green monsters and all sorts of ..... well
        I can't even talk about it in today's market. The Burroughs estate
        took one look at it and said, "Are you crazy?" They said they weren't
        going to let this squeaky clean character that they had built for so
        many years be tarnished by making love to strange green women in the
        middle of the jungle. Which is what Gene had them doing. But some of
        them get very protective. And I think, basically that's what you
        writers here might keep in mind, also. I think to a certain degree,
        I know that you didn't like the idea that Gene did as much supervising
        on your scripts or as much tearing apart on your scripts or your
        stories as he did. But, he had a vision, too. And I have a theory
        on that. I almost have to go along with the Doyle Estate and the
        Tarzan Estate. If you don't like the world that Gene created, if you
        can't live within his universe, go write your own. Leave his alone.
        Don't write in brothers and sisters and things like this. It had
        gotten to the point where everybody kinda thought that these were
        real people. And they say what happened to so and so? It's like who's
        that? It's Spock's sister. Spock doesn't have a sister! We never wrote
        that in. But you guys did, and that's what Gene took objection to.
        Work within the framework of it. I think that's what the estates are
        trying to say, too: "We created the character; don't screw it up."

Q:      You've invented so many marvelous characters. Where did these
        characters come from? And what are their pasts? And how did they get
        to where they were and everything?

Majel:  I think that this particular show, after five years, has done a
        rather remarkable job of exploring some of those things, whereas the
        original show did not. They're two entirely different shows. They
        have very little similarity. I think the way to describe them is
        that the first one is more of a fantasy type of thing. If this kind
        of space travel were possible in the future this is the way we would
        like it to be. In the Next Generation I think we're a little more
        realistic to say if this kind of space travel were possible this is
        the way it will be. And I think that's one of your basic, main
        differences. You see, cause Star Trek the television series was just
        that. It was seventy-nine episodes of a television series made for
        the purposes of entertainment and to sell soap and toothpaste. But
        Star Trek the legend --now that was an ideal. That's a vision. That
        was Gene's vision and it encompassed humanity, unity, peace and love.
        And to quote Gene's own words, "Civilization will reach wisdom and
        maturity on the day it learns to value diversity of character and
        ideas. To be different is not necessarily to be ugly. To have a
        different idea is not necessarily to be wrong. The worst thing that
        could possibly happen is for all of us to look and think and act
        alike. For if we can not learn to appreciate the small variations of
        our own kind here on earth, then God help us if we get out into space
        and meet the variations that are almost certainly out there."
	I think I rambled on that. Did I get anywhere near the question? I
        think we have done a lot of exploration of the characters.

Q:      When will Deep Space Nine be on the air?

Majel:  It will be on January of '93. We start filming in August. The sets
        are already being built. And we're taking up three stages, which
        means that the Star Trek productions will have six permanent stages
        on the Paramount lot -- something unheard of.

Q:	Do you think the two series running together will take anything away
        from either one?

Majel:  I don't think so. Supposing you liked one and didn't like the other?
        You know how to use the on and off button. No, I don't think so.

Q:      Will ILM be doing the special effects?

Majel:  Everything is crossing over. So, what we use on one we'll be using on
        the other. It's going to be one big happy family. It'll be two shows,
        but one group. Michael is going to oversee the makeup on both of them.
        Bob Blackman is going to oversee the costumes on all of them. It'll
        have the same beautiful, marvelous technicians. We hired the best,
        now we just sit back and let them do their work.
