17 years ago today, Trekkies said goodbye to Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. It was on June 2, 1999 that the series finale of DS9 aired.
The series was a moderate success during the seven seasons it was on the air, and it didn”t win over every Star Trek fan. It was different in many key ways from Trek shows that came before it, and that made it divisive. Set on a space station instead of aboard a starship with more serialized rather than standalone storytelling, it was a darker show, dealing with flawed characters and moral complexity. Its influence on Battlestar Galactica is evident, and that shouldn”t be a surprise – BSG co-showrunner Ronald D. Moore got his start with three Star Trek series, including co-executive producing DS9.
Also an alum of DS9: Bryan Fuller, who will be showrunning the new CBS Star Trek series premiering next year. (Yes, he did also work on the less-than-acclaimed Star Trek: Voyager.) That darker quality to DS9 may give you an idea of what we could expect from the new series, along with, of course, the wonderful range of dark drama, dark comedy, and hypersaturated cheery, witty comedy in his shows like Hannibal, Wonderfalls, and Pushing Daisies.
You can watch a special all-Trek episode of “Ask Alan” in the video below, where HitFix”s Alan Sepinwall answers a bunch of reader questions about the Fuller-helmed Star Trek:
Other notable June 2 happenings in pop culture history:
• 1953: Elizabeth II was crowed Queen at a coronation ceremony in Westminster Abbey. It was the first ever coronation of a British monarch to be televised and was also the world”s first major international event to be broadcast on TV.
• 1957: Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev was interviewed on TV for the first time on CBS” Face the Nation. Yes, he was heard and seen in American living rooms before being interviewed on TV in his own country.
• 1962: Ray Charles topped the U.S. singles chart with his cover of country song “I Can”t Stop Loving You.” It held the No. 1 spot for five weeks.
• 1965: The Rolling Stones played their first concert in the U.S., on the football field of Lynn High School in Lynn, MA.
• 1969: ABC aired the final episode of soap opera Peyton Place, which lasted for five seasons.
• 1978: Bruce Springsteen”s fourth studio album, Darkness on the Edge of Town, was released.
• 1981: Americans were first introduced to a soon-to-be-iconic gorilla when Donkey Kong arcade games debuted. They also first encountered Mario, then known as Jumpman, whose pet gorilla had turned on him and kidnapped his girlfriend.
• 1989: Dead Poets Society opened in theaters.
• 1995: Clint Eastwood-Meryl Streep film The Bridges of Madison County opened in theaters. It earned Streep her 10th Oscar nomination.
• 2001: The cover of “Lady Marmalade” from the Moulin Rogue! soundtrack hit the top of the Billboard Hot 100, the day after the film opened in theaters across the U.S. The song, featuring Christina Aguilera, Lil” Kim, Mýa, and P!nk, topped the chart for five consecutive weeks.
• 2002: The Wire premiered on HBO. It aired for five seasons but, surprisingly, never won an Emmy and was only nominated for two.
• 2010: Composer Randy Newman was honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Pixar head John Lasseter and Monty Python member Eric Idle were among those to speak at the ceremony.
• 2010: Meanwhile, in Washington, D.C., another musician was being honored for his life”s work. Paul McCartney”s ceremony for his receipt of the Library of Congress” Gershwin Prize was on this date (he was the third person to receive the honor, after Paul Simon and Stevie Wonder).