Summary
The USS Defiant, commanded by Captain Benjamin Sisko inStar Trek: Deep Space Ninehad a revolutionary new starship feature that the show swiftly forgot about. Introduced inDS9season 3, the USS Defiant was a starship of many firsts.It was Starfleet’s first warship in decades, initially built to battle the Borg threat but deployed to tackle the Dominion. The USS Defiant also had a cloaking device fitted, which was authorized by the Romulan Star Empire for use in the Gamma Quadrant. TheDefiant’s cloaking device brokeStar Trekrules, but it was necessary to tackle the threat posed by the Dominion.
The USS Defiant’s cloaking device wasn’t the only covert feature that the starship had in its arsenal, however. InStar Trek: Deep Space Nineseason 3, episode 5, “Second Skin”, Major Kira Nerys (Nana Visitor) is kidnapped by the Obsidian Order, forcing Commander Sisko to take the Defiant into Cardassian space. With the use of the cloaking device banned outside the Gamma Quadrant, Sisko had to come up with another way to try and fly the Defiant past Cardassian defenses. So, for the first and only time, theDeep Space Ninecrewused the Defiant’s holo-filter.
Voyager Is Why Star Trek: DS9’s Starship Is Called Defiant
One of Ronald D. Moore’s first jobs on Star Trek: DS9 was to name the starship that would become the Defiant, and Voyager vetoed his first choice.
The Defiant’s holo-filter could change the appearance of someone during visual communications with other ships. InStar Trek: Deep Space Nineseason 3, episode 4, “Second Skin”, Sisko used this feature to disguise himself as a Kobheerian freighter captain. As impressive as the technology was, the Defiant’s holo-filter was only functional from a distance.Lt. Jadzia Dax (Terry Farrell)tells Sisko that if the Cardassian patrol got closer, it would identify the Defiant as a Starfleet warship and not a humble Kobheerian freighter.
The footage of the Kobheerian captain was from theDS9season 1 episode “Duet”, but actor Norman Large was not credited for his appearance.
This is the only time that the USS Defiant uses a holo-filter inStar Trek: Deep Space Nine, but it wasn’t the last time that the technology was deployed. InStar Trek: Deep Space Nineseason 5, episode 1, “Apocalypse Rising”, Gul Dukat (Marc Alaimo) uses a holo-filter to pretend to be a Klingon Warrior while smuggling Sisko and his team into enemy territory. After this point, however, the holo-filter was never used again.
What Happened To The USS Defiant’s Holofilter In Star Trek?
Although a neat feature that would have helped the USS Defiant infiltrate the Gamma Quadrant in the years leading up toStar Trek’s Dominion War, the holo-filter was potentially just as controversial as a cloaking device. Gene Roddenberry famously objected to Starfleet ships having cloaking devices because “our guys don’t sneak around”. It’s possible that Rick Berman, the custodian of theStar Treklegacy after Roddenberry’s death in 1991, decided that a holo-filter was similarly underhanded.
A one-off use of the holo-filter was probably signed off by Berman because, ultimately, Elim Garak (Andrew Robinson) convinced Sisko to turn it off and confront the Cardassians directly. It was also very limited, only useful from a specific distance. The most likely reason that the USS Defiant never used the holo-filter is the fact that it wasn’t all that useful in convincing a Cardassian patrol that Sisko was a humble freighter captain. Which is why “Second Skin” was the one-and-only appearance of the Defiant’s holo-filter inStar Trek: Deep Space Nine.
All episodes of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine are available to stream on Paramount+.
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
Cast
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, also known as DS9, is the fourth series in the long-running Sci-Fi franchise, Star Trek. DS9 was created by Rick Berman and Michael Piller, and stars Avery Brooks, René Auberjonois, Terry Farrell, and Cirroc Lofton. This particular series follows a group of individuals in a space station near a planet called Bajor.
