Deep Space 9 Superior

[Starbase]

LOL! OMG! I can't believe it! I've really owned myself this time. *slaps oneself silly* How could I have sat through this without realising I'd been watching the very man himself.

You and me both brother MF, when I read that info brother Fifth Race put up about Morn I realized I really knew nothing about him or the actor who portrayed Morn. I have been following along with the episode discussion so I had just recently watched the episode "Who Mourns for Morn" and I distinctly remember the scene were Quark is eulogizing Morn and he invites this annoymous looking Bajoran to sit in Morns chair to keep his memory alive. I hadn't a clue that was the actor Mark Allen Sheppard who plays Morn.

[the Fifth Race]

You and me both brother MF, when I read that info brother Fifth Race put up about Morn I realized I really knew nothing about him or the actor who portrayed Morn. I have been following along with the episode discussion so I had just recently watched the episode "Who Mourns for Morn" and I distinctly remember the scene were Quark is eulogizing Morn and he invites this anonymous looking Bajoran to sit in Morns chair to keep his memory alive. I hadn't a clue that was the actor Mark Allen Sheppard who plays Morn.

I had no idea that was Mark Allen Sheppard who played the anonymous Bajoran Quark got to sit in Morns chair when he said "let's never let Morns chair be empty". I actually had no idea who the heck Mark Allen Sheppard is?, has he even appeared on anything other than Star Trek?.

[Starbase]

I had no idea that was Mark Allen Sheppard who played the anonymous Bajoran Quark got to sit in Morns chair when he said "let's never let Morns chair be empty". I actually had no idea who the heck Mark Allen Sheppard is?, has he even appeared on anything other than Star Trek?.

The mighty Fifth Race gets stumped on some obscure DS9 trivia?, say it isn't so brother just kidding amigo, you have probably forgotten more about Trek trivia than anyone I know.

I was most impressed with the self portrait that Mark Allen Sheppard drew of Morn that Quark had in his bar to memorialize him.

[the Fifth Race]

The mighty Fifth Race gets stumped on some obscure DS9 trivia?, say it isn't so brother just kidding amigo, you have probably forgotten more about Trek trivia than anyone I know.

Piss off brother Base you wish you had my Trek knowledge your lovely wife knows more about Trek than you

I was most impressed with the self portrait that Mark Allen Sheppard drew of Morn that Quark had in his bar to memorialize him.

Agreed!. You know the more I think about Morn, the more I am starting to remember trivia tibbits about Mark Allen Sheppard. I did remember reading when DS9 originally aired that not only did Mark Allen Sheppard do the Morn portrait (which is stunningly good) but he did a lot of other art work that was in the background in various episodes and if my memory serves me right he also designed some stage set ups.

[Starbase]

Here ya go brother Fifth, I dug up some Mark Allen Sheppard info. from his rather obscure website he personally runs......

Born: 11:07Am January 7th 1961
Place: Rockville Centre, New York

An accomplished artist, Mark has numerous works of his abstract impressionist paintings, mixed media and photo mosaics used on the sets of Deep Space Nine as well as other television, films and commercials.

Plural Dolt; an absurd music theater group Mark performs with now in it's tenth year has just finished it's latest recording "Slappy Woot." It's like Frank Zappa meets Spike Jones on Forbidden Planet. Cartoony, Wild, and Zany. Plural Dolt plays in and around the Los Angeles area and plans on going on tour soon.

A diverse background in science as well as the fine arts, Mark has a Bachelor of Science from Roger Williams College and four years at California Institute of the Arts. His studies include: Music, Film, Theater, Performance, and Interdisciplinary Arts. Much of Mark's work explores such abstract concepts as energy, consciousness, perception, multi-dimensionality, the transformation and mytholization of environment through a variety of media.

He is an artist and his work has been featured on Deep Space Nine
He has never been listed in the credits
It takes 90 minutes to complete the transformation into Morn
He may spend upwards of 14 hours at a time as Morn
Mark Allen Shepherd has a degree in Biology

[Starbase]

Here is some other Morn info I got off his personal site.......

Mark Allen Shepherd plays Morn, a humanoid alien from the Ionite Nebula that frequents the space station at Deep Space Nine. He's found to be quite the regular at Quark's bar. Morn is a ladies man, even Dax has commented that she finds the few hairs on the top of Morn's head attractive.

Quark knows that when Morn leaves the bar he might as well close up for the night and went so far as to suggest a new Ferengi "rule of acquisition" in order to describe it. Quark on occasion lets Morn run the bar.

Morn will more likely be around for a long time as Jake Sisko finds Morn running the bar sometime in the future. Enough pieces of the puzzle for the audience to wonder and keep them on the edge of their seats when he is about to say something; Morn might be the most famous non-speaking part in Star Trek History.

Morn is:
Quark's most regular customer
From the Ionite Nebula (The way of the warrior)
Has never spoken on camera, however it is mentioned that he talks a lot (The Jem'hadar)
Has 17 brothers and sisters (Starship Down)
Has more that one heart (Through the Looking Glass)
Was once caught sleeping on the promenade
Enjoys a Raw Slug Liver breakfast at Quark's (The Assignment)
Rule of Acquisition #286: "When Morn leaves, it's all over!" -Quark. (The House of Quark)
Morn wears Vaterian wool undergarments form Garak's shop but no earmuffs (The Way of the Warrior)
Is not good at darts (Accession)
Morn's name is an anagram for Norm the similar character from Cheers
Is played by Mark Allen Shepherd

[the Fifth Race]

/\/\ Great information brother Base! /\/\

After reading your informative replies it reminded me of the Morn/Mark Allen Sheppard site and of an online campaign that a large group of Trekkie's and DS9 fans took up on various fan site and forums to have Morn speak his first words, and the last words on the last episode (What You Leave Behind) of DS9. Obviously they weren't successful even though Morn did make an appearance in that wonderful episode. I also remember watching it when it originally aired wondering if Morn was going to speak.

[Starbase]

/\/\ Great information brother Base! /\/\

Thanx brother Fifth

After reading your informative replies it reminded me of the Morn/Mark Allen Sheppard site and of an online campaign that a large group of Trekkie's and DS9 fans took up on various fan site and forums to have Morn speak his first words, and the last words on the last episode (What You Leave Behind) of DS9. Obviously they weren't successful even though Morn did make an appearance in that wonderful episode. I also remember watching it when it originally aired wondering if Morn was going to speak.

I also remember the Let Morn Speak campaign, I also remember writing in a few times on another website in favor of it. Although he didn't get the chance to speak I still love the way the last few scenes played out when the series was ending, very classy and memorable.

[the Fifth Race]

Season VI episode discussion
Episode # 13 .....

Far Beyond the Stars
After a friend's ship is destroyed and Sisko considers leaving Starfleet, he begins having visions of his crew as 1950s Americans. Bashir's examination reveals unusual synaptic patterns, but before Sisko can discuss treatment, he finds himself in 1953 New York City as Benny Russell, a writer for a science-fiction magazine. Fellow staffers resemble O'Brien, Kira, Bashir, Dax, and Quark in human form, and their editor, Pabst, looks like a human Odo. Writing assignments are given as illustrations, and each writer creates a story to fit their drawing. Benny's illustration is a crude version of Deep Space Nine.

Benny writes of Captain Benjamin Sisko and his space station, Deep Space Nine. He shows the story to his girlfriend, Cassie (Kasidy Yates) and to the others at work. While everyone is impressed, Pabst refuses to publish it, telling Sisko that his readers will not accept a Negro man as the head of a space station.

That night, Benny encounters a preacher (Joseph Sisko) who urges him to "write the words." He pens another story starring Ben Sisko, forgetting all about his date with Cassie. Later, she arrives at Benny's apartment and coaxes him to dance with her. Suddenly, he is Sisko again, dancing with Kasidy on the station. Back as Benny, he tells Cassie he fears he is becoming Captain Sisko.

Benny returns to work determined to see his stories published. Albert (O'Brien) suggests making the first story a dream, and Pabst agrees that a young Negro man's vision of a better future is acceptable. That night, Benny's celebration with Cassie turns ugly. First, the preacher warns him of trouble ahead. Then, after two malicious police officers (Dukat and Weyoun) kill a Negro teenager (Jake Sisko), they turn on Benny and beat him mercilessly.

Weeks later, the day Benny's story is to be published, Pabst breaks the news that the magazine's owner refused to distribute the issue — and that Benny has been fired. Devastated and at the breaking point, Benny tearfully declares that Ben Sisko and his future are real and cannot be destroyed. He is taken away in an ambulance, where he finds the preacher comforting him, then he wakes up on Deep Space Nine as Sisko again. Told he was unconscious only a few minutes, his brain readings have now returned to normal. Encouraged by his dream and its message, Sisko decides to stay with Starfleet and Deep Space Nine.

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Wow!, I had forgotten how great an episode Far Beyond the Stars is!. What an emotional and powerful episode it is. Let's see if I got my list correct before I offer some thoughts I have about it.......

Ben Sisko is Benny the scifi writer
Jake Sisko is Jimmy the con man and grifter
Joseph Sisko is the street corner preacher (he was a lot more IMO, more on that later)
Kassidy is Cassy the waitress and Benny's girlfriend
Worf is Willie the professional baseball player
Weyoun and DuKat are the abusive and racist detectives
Nog is a paper boy
Kira is Kaycee Hunter the scifi writer
Quark is Herb the lead scifi artist
O'Brien is Albert the scifi (robot) writer
Martok is Uncle Roy the scifi writer
Bashir is Jules the scifi writer
Odo is Douglas aka. Pabst the scifi editor
Jadzia is the ditsy Darlene, Pabst's secretary and scifi aficionado
I think that's everyone, if I missed anyone please point them out. I am kind of surprised Rom and Leeta weren't part of this wonderful episode (or were they?).

I have a theory on this episode....first of all Joseph Sisko (Ben's father) played a street corner preacher who kept appearing throughout the episode to give Benny advice or to help him out. Then there was the scene towards the end of the episode where Joseph touches Benny's ear like Bajorans do to read someones Pai. To me it seems obvious that Joseph is a prophet in Benny's vision and that the Joseph that visited DS9 before Ben collapsed was the same prophet. Any thoughts my friends?.

The great costumes and genre acting were dead-on and suburb!. If you also noticed they shot the vision sequences with a different and higher quality film than they normally used. The scenes were electric and showed a lot more detail and contrast than normal. I also loved the great back ground jazz music that played throughout the whole episode. You were right Trek_Girl, this episode is a classic!.

I really liked Shimmerman's (Quark) character Herb, he was one righteous dude. Worf's character Willie also stood out, he was so laid back, the exact opposite of Worf. DuKat and Weyoun's portrayal of racists cops was disturbing and all to well acted. Avery Brook's portrayal as Benny the scifi writer was the crowning achievement of Far Beyond the Stars, he made me feel for his character and really upped his game for this brilliant episode.

[Descent]

The only Star Trek episode (I know of) to have the guts to deal with racism for once in the franchise. This is one of the reasons why I love DS9 so much: it took chances. I also love how Benny is tied into one of the later episodes in the series as strange as it may be.

[Trek_Girl42]

I cannot begin to express how much I love this episode.....(what a contradiction ) I loved seeing all the characters without their alien make-up, very fun. It was a wonderful, well-contained (but seemingly contributional to the story arc I presume?) story- that I understood, considering it was one of my first DS9 eps. The racism aspect was done very well; they certainly didn't try to dodge any corners with that one. And it was a nice tip of the hat to the roots of sci-fi writing. Wonderful, wonderful unique episode, and Avery Brooks was indeed fantastic!

And I have to agree Fifth, it was very cool to see "Worf" at his opposite, and the music! Very high quality piece of work, this episode is.

[kmiller1610]

The only Star Trek episode (I know of) to have the guts to deal with racism for once in the franchise. This is one of the reasons why I love DS9 so much: it took chances. I also love how Benny is tied into one of the later episodes in the series as strange as it may be.

There is a TOS episode where the fellow who played the Riddler in Batman struggles against another character. Both appear to look the same. Their faces are white on one side and black on the other. They try to kill each other throughout the story and in the end the character is asked why he hates the other fellow and he says something like, "Well his face is white on the right side and black on the left (his own is the opposite)... can't you see why I hate him?"

http://www.startrek.com/startrek/vie...ode/68800.html

This excellent DS9 episode of course goes a lot deeper and is enjoyable on a lot of levels. One of my favorite parts was seeing the actors who wear appliances show their faces and their acting more fully.

I also was trying to figure out which Sci-Fi writer each person is representing. I have some thoughts, but wondered what the rest of you thought. The guy who likes Robots (O'Brien?) seems to be Asimov.....

[Missster.Freeman]

It's been a long time since I've seen this episode. It was great seeing most of the cast play roles in the faces they were born with.

[Descent]

There is a TOS episode where the fellow who played the Riddler in Batman struggles against another character. Both appear to look the same. Their faces are white on one side and black on the other. They try to kill each other throughout the story and in the end the character is asked why he hates the other fellow and he says something like, "Well his face is white on the right side and black on the left (his own is the opposite)... can't you see why I hate him?"

http://www.startrek.com/startrek/vie...ode/68800.html

Can't believe I forgot that one, I had seen it a long time ago too! Thanks kmiller.

[Carl]

The Dominion story in DS9 was brilliant... the most consistant, well-written, most entertaining and exciting story arc I've ever seen unfold in a single sci-fi series.

However, I also found DS9 slow at times and its characters quite dull. For example, I hate any episode where the crew land or crash on some stupid rock or planet where something happens - they're just so annoying and boring. Give me an ep in space or on the station any day.