Sisko's Rank

Avenger · Junior Cadet Joined: 26 Apr 2007 Posts: 19

Does anyone know why Rick Berman and Michael Piller didn't make Sisko a captain at the beginning of DS9? Was there some dramatic necessity to set him apart from Kirk and Picard by giving him a different rank at the outset of the show?

Morphy · Forum Ogre Joined: 15 Jun 2001 Posts: 3858

I've wondered the same thing. Maybe there's just too much association with "captain" and "ship." The producers might have wanted to emphasize that DS9 was series about a space station.

TrekkieMage · **Mon Sep 03, 2007 10:58 am**

Or perhaps to highlight the fact that you didn't need to be a Captain to command...Haven't Commanders been in control of ships as well?

Deck-One · **Tue Sep 04, 2007 10:04 pm**

I guess they might have wanted to leave some room for him to move up the ranks, and after all, Bashir was meant to be Sisko.

robbiewebster · **Tue Sep 04, 2007 10:12 pm**

I agree with what morphy said, but what did you mean about the Bashir thing Deck-one?

iamthepolarbear · **Sat Sep 08, 2007 3:24 pm**

DS9 at its core was a show about character growth. What better way to show growth of his rank and responsiblity. And it's not like they were going to promote him to Admiral.

L'ursa · **Sun Sep 09, 2007 11:52 am**

I suspect that in the beginning the writers themselves weren't quite sure who should be Captain of DS9. After all, there was Kira who had been in charge before Sisco came and there was a certain rivalty between them in the beginning. After Kai Opakas death, Sisco could have turned into a spiritual leader, leaving the station to Kira.

Ntypical · **Sun Oct 21, 2007 9:17 pm**

Very good point Bear. You can also look at it from a RL military stand point. Stations (no matter how important they are) are static, meaning they will generally have more comm with command and as such can be trusted to a more junior officer than a Captain, and in many cases in RL military it is a billet filled by someone that is responsible enough to command a large troop or det, but is not yet ready to have the cord cut from the mother.

Does that make sense?

Spartan 688 · Ensign Joined: 11 Nov 2007 Posts: 57

robbiewebster · **Tue Nov 13, 2007 11:09 pm**

lifeguide · **Fri Nov 30, 2007 7:08 pm**

The difference was the station aspect.

If every station and colony was commanded by a captain then you would not have many captains left to cammand the vessels.

I also think it was a very good story point. As has been said before the show was more about character growth and the relationships of the crew rather than the aliens or some exploration (at least until the Dominion came in and that led to the Defiant.

*Star_child* · Sophomore Cadet Joined: 25 Jun 2009 Posts: 10

Did you know that Alexander Siddig was first choice for Sisko, but then they realized that he is too young to be a father of a teen, so they gived Sisko to avery Brooks...

Kathryn_Janeway218 · **Fri Jun 26, 2009 1:08 am**

Also, you can be a Lieutenant, and command a ship, but your crew will still call you captain. Captain is a rank, and a position. The commanding officer on a ship is referred to as "Captain". I have seen several occasions where a Lt. Cmdr. has been in command, and they still call him/her captain.

Cosiris · **Thu Jul 23, 2009 9:14 pm My captain, my captain**

Captains command ahips not stations. Sisko was only promoted to captain at the introduction of the Defiant.

Cange · Lieutenant Joined: 30 Jul 2009 Posts: 148

maybey because when he started they wanted picard to be over sisko and trought the series they wanted to show sisko would become as good as picard