By Chris Snellgrove
| Published
When Star Trek: Deep Space Nine premiered, it took the show some time to escape the shadow of The Next Generation. That shadow loomed particularly long thanks to DS9’s first season having cameos from TNG characters like Captain Picard, Lwaxana Troi, and even Q. However, the killer Season 1 finale “In the Hands of the Prophets” deliberately broke from a beloved franchise tradition by not turning its finale into a major cliffhanger event.
In The Hands Of The Prophets
After its first two seasons ended with standalone finales, The Next Generation Season 3 began a tradition of cliffhanger endings that led directly into the next season. For fans, this could be both exciting and annoying. After watching the Borg assimilate Captain Picard, we had to wait an entire summer to discover whether he would be saved or simply blown away by Riker’s bold plan to destroy the Borg cube. However, as DS9’s future showrunner Ira Steven Behr explained, the show deliberately avoided making “In the Hands of the Prophets” into a cliffhanger because producers were hoping to save money.
“I know people wanted to have the big cliffhanger and I love cliffhangers, but they do tend to be a gimmick,” Behr said. “And unless you can find a gimmick that’s going to work for you, why do it?” This, along with the fact that “we did not have a way to do it successfully because of the budget restraints,” is why “In the Hands of the Prophets” is a standalone episode.
Just how expensive would it have been to make this into a two-part episode, though? According to then-showrunner Michael Piller, a Star Trek cliffhanger “traditionally costs at least $100,000 more” because of the need for things like additional action scenes. In this case, Deep Space Nine’s first season had already gone over budget, and because he was “a responsible producer,” he didn’t want the show to do a cliffhanger for the sake of doing a cliffhanger.
While there were financial considerations behind making “In the Hands of the Prophets” a one-and-done episode, this was ultimately a creative decision as well. As Behr pointed out, the best cliffhangers are built around solid gimmicks, and because they couldn’t think of a crowd-pleasing gimmick, he didn’t feel the need to make this episode a two-parter. Accordingly, Behr noted that there’s no need to arbitrarily follow such a new tradition in the franchise: “to say you have to have a cliffhanger is ridiculous,” he said.
Michael Piller seemingly agreed with this…despite the show already having gone over on budget for the season, he would have given the green light to any outstanding cliffhanger ideas. “If we had a wonderful cliffhanger that we wanted to do, I would have been behind it,” he said. But he ultimately felt that “we already had [an…] episode that could be a season ender that gave a completeness to the season.”
We already saw “In the Hands of the Prophets” as one of the best episodes of Deep Space Nine. As Behr and Piller pointed out, it didn’t need a second part to make for compelling television. But hearing about how the two deliberately shut down the idea that the season had to end in a cliffhanger just because TNG always did brought warmth to our cold, cold Vulcan hearts. This spinoff always broke the rules, and this early maverick spirit is just one of many reasons that Deep Space Nine remains the best Star Trek show ever made.
