Posted in: Paramount+, Star Trek, TV | Tagged: Deep Space Nine, star trek, Starfleet Academy

Starfleet Academy: Newsome Reveals Original Plan for DS9 Tribute Ep

Starfleet Academy writer Tawny Newsome discusses writing the Deep Space Nine tribute episode, "Series Acclimation Mil," focusing on Sisko.

When the Star Trek: Starfleet Academy episode "Series Acclimation Mil," named after the holographic character played by Kerrice Brooks, was conceived, writer Tawny Newsome, whose fandom of Deep Space Nine was hardly a secret given her time on the animated series Lower Decks and its DS9 guest stars, initially had a different idea when conceiving it with co-writer Kirsten Beyer. The episode followed SAM, who was trying to follow the trial of breadcrumbs surrounding the former captain of Deep Space Nine, Benjamin Sisko (Avery Brooks), who left as a Prophet of the Emissary after his battle with a Pah-Wraith, who possessed Gul Dukat (Marc Alaimo) at the end of the syndication, leaving behind several questions and status more as a rumor 1000 years later as historians try to make sense of his legacy. Newsome, who played Professor Illa Dax, the latest host of the Dax symbiote previously occupied by Jadzia (Terry Farrell) and Ezri (Nicole De Boer), helped guide SAM on her journey, which includes an interaction with a holographic rendering of his son Jake (Cirroc Lofton) at the Sisko Museum in New Orleans. The actress and writer spoke at Trek Talks 5 alongside TNG/Picard star Gates McFadden, who also hosts her own podcast, Investi-Gates, about the evolution of the Starfleet Academy episode into a Sisko story.

Starfleet Academy: Tawny Newsome on How Making DS9 Tribute Episode a Reality

As far as the original idea of "Series Acclimation Mil," the episode had originally wider ambitions, "It started as this idea where all of the students were going to be taking a test, and they all had to learn about different captains from the past, and we have some character learning about the captains we know, and then also some captains from the canon that we were going to build out, like some new names," Newsome said adding that the original script was 72 pages before it got pared down to 48. "And then I think we decided we just needed to focus on one captain, and a lot of ideas were thrown out. And because I'm such a Deep Space Nine fan, and because I've been pretty vocal about that show, in particular, not getting as much attention in modern Trek, I was pretty adamant from the beginning that it needed to be a Sisko story, and also the fact that we kept calling Sam an emissary for her people. I was like, we can't say the word 'emissary' 40 times in this episode and not have it be about Sisko. That's crazy."

As Starfleet Academy filmed their seasons back-to-back, Newsome revealed she has far less involvement creatively in the second season, "By season 2, I wasn't in the room anymore. I was able to contribute on one of the scripts, Alex Taub and I wrote an episode for season 2, but because I had other obligations, I wasn't full-time in the room. So, there were a lot of things I wanted to do. There was a lot more stuff I wanted to do with SAM. I just thought that character became so fascinating. And gosh, the chance to explore a new species and a new world was really exciting to me, and Kerrice Brooks is just such a special actor." For more on how McFadden's experience in the writer's room was during TNG and Picard, and her infamous, most memed TNG episode "Sub Rosa," you can check out the interview.

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