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Emissary
Stardate 43997: Captain Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart) of the Starship U.S.S. Enterprise is captured by a malevolent cybernetic race known as the Borg. After being mentally and surgically reconditioned, Picard leads a devastating assault against Starfleet forces at sector Wolf 359. On board the U.S.S. Saratoga, First Officer Benjamin Sisko (Avery Brooks) stands ready to do battle with the Borg. In the ensuing attack, the Saratoga suffers heavy damage and most of her crew, including Sisko's wife, Jennifer, are killed. Grief stricken, Sisko is forced to evacuate the ship with his young son, Jake (Cirroc Lofton) in an escape pod. He watches with despair as the Saratoga, with his wife aboard, is totally destroyed by the Borg.
Stardate 46421: Three years later, Commander Sisko and his son are en route to his new assignment: command of Deep Space Nine, an abandoned Cardassian space station in orbit over the planet Bajor, now occupied by both the Federation and representatives of the Bajoran Provisional Government. Upon his arrival Sisko meets with Major Kira Nerys (Nana Visitor), an ex-Bajoran terrorist who is now his Executive Officer. Kira, like most Bajorans, is very resentful of the Federation's presence in Bajoran territory. With the station a shambles after being stripped of all its defenses by the Cardassians, Sisko realizes he has a major undertaking ahead of him. Sisko is later summoned aboard the U.S.S. Enterprise to meet with Captain Picard to discuss his role in the reconstruction of Bajor. Sisko is none too pleased to meet with the man he considers responsible for the death of his wife and requests a transfer to a civilian assignment back on Earth. Sisko goes to the surface of Bajor to meet with Kai Opaka, a powerful Bajoran high priestess who shows him a box containing a mysterious, glowing orb. A bright light shines from the orb and in the next instant, Sisko finds himself on a beachfront re-living the time he first met his wife. When the hallucination disappears, Opaka informs Sisko of eight other orbs stolen by the Cardassians for scientific study. If they discover their secret, it would mean the disintegration of Bajoran spiritual unity. Sisko is to be the emissary that shall go to the celestial temple to warn the prophets.
Back to the space station, Sisko greets two new additions to his medical and science staff, Dr. Julian Bashir (Siddig El Fadil) and Jadzia Dax (Terry Farrell). Dax is a member of the symbiotic species of worm known as Trills which exist within humanoid hosts for the duration of their lives, and with whom Sisko had once been acquainted with in a previous host body. Sisko and Dax venture out in a runabout-class shuttlecraft towards a sector of space where the orbs first appeared above Bajor. They are suddenly drawn into a wormhole-like passage and sent 70,000 light years from the space station. Upon establishing the discovery of a stable wormhole, they re-enter the passage to report the news to the station.
Enroute back, an unknown force takes control of the runabout and lands it in an environment suitable for Sisko and Dax. Upon emerging from the ship, each perceives a different reality. Sisko sees a dark, stormy wasteland while Dax sees a beautiful garden setting. An orb appears and sends Dax back to the space station while Sisko is drawn into a mysterious white realm where he is confronted by Aliens who exist outside of linear time. Having no physical form themselves, the aliens appear to Sisko through the memories of people he knows; his wife, his son, Picard and crew members of the Saratoga. Meanwhile, back at Deep Space Nine, Major Kira, believing the wormhole to be an important claim for Bajor, orders Chief O'Brien (Colm Meaney) to move the station towards the coordinates of the wormhole. She then takes Dax, Bashir and security officer Odo (Rene Auberjonais) on a mission to locate Sisko. On the way to the wormhole, they contact a Cardassian warship under command of Gul Dukat that is also approaching the passage. Gul Dukat ignores Kira's warnings of a possible hostile intelligence within the wormhole and enters the passage to emerge badly damaged on the other side. The wormhole then collapses before Kira's runabout can enter. Sisko, sensing that something is wrong, demands to know what happened. The aliens tell him of the passage of the Cardassian vessel and of the termination of the wormhole. Sisko tries to explain further to the aliens about the nature of linear existence to human beings and how humans use past experience as a guide to shaping their future. The scene constantly shifts back to the wreckage of the Saratoga at Wolf 359 where Sisko lost his wife. The aliens tell him that this is where his own existence is, since no past experience in his life prepared him for this moment.
Back at Deep Space Nine, three more Cardassian warships have arrived in search of Gul Dukat's vessel. Not believing Kira's story about the wormhole, they accuse the station of having destroyed the warship.
Attempting a bluff, Kira orders a high energy thoron field to be put up around the station so her lack of defenses cannot be detected, then fires six photon torpedoes across the bow of the lead warship. The Cardassians return fire, causing heavy damage to the station. As Kira is about to surrender, Sisko's runabout emerges from the wormhole with Dukat's warship in tow. Upon returning to the station, Sisko against meets with Captain Picard to discuss the strategic significance that Deep Space Nine will now have in the quadrant and to rescind his resignation as station commander. After assessing the damage by the Cardassian's attack, the crew of Deep Space Nine look ahead to future challenges.
The choice was obvious! After six years of exceptional scores for STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION, it was only natural that producers Rick Berman and Michael Pillar would carry Dennis McCarthy over to their new spin-off series, STAR TREK: DEEP SPACE NINE. Dennis recorded his first score for science fiction television when he was called by the producers of "V" - The Final Battle to write music for the second half of the series to come. It was this music plus his work on several episodes of the new TWILIGHT ZONE series that caught the attention of Rick Berman and Robert H. Justman, who later signed him to write the music for the pilot episode of STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION, "Encounter at Farpoint." Since then he has been scoring STAR TREK for the entirety of its run to date, alternating with Ron Jones and subsequently, Jay Chattaway. Dennis' score for STAR TREK: DEEP SPACE NINE remains in the tradition of STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION. while bringing back the pulse-pounding excitement heard in his scores for "V." His main title theme is a sweeping passage consisting of strings, trumpet and French horn which conveys a serene, majestic feel as the camera pans across the gigantic space station.
The action picks up as Starfleet is confronted by Locutus of Borg in a flashback sequence of the battle at Wolf 359. A haunting choir is heard as Picard/Locutus delivers his ultimatum to the Federation forces to escort them to Earth or be destroyed. As the Borg completely devastates the forces of the Federation, Dennis unleashes a symphony of strings, percussion and brass to accompany the intergalactic Armageddon. three years later, as Sisko and his son Jake approach Deep Space Nine, the music takes on a softer "family" feel as they exit the holodeck of the ship that's taking them to their new home.
There are beautiful melodic passages as science officer Jadzia Dax recalls the time she became host to a 300 year old symbiote, and when Sisko, having been abducted by the aliens in the wormhole, is forced to face the reality of his wife's death while trying to make the aliens comprehend the nature of his linear existence. A beautiful solo piano motif is heard when Sisko talks to the aliens on an old Chicago Cubs baseball field. Dennis had one week to compose the theme for STAR TREK: DEEP SPACE NINE and another two weeks to write the score for the pilot episode, "Emissary." His result is an energetic, but even tempered score which mixes high-paced action with ethereal, mysterious movements which mostly underscore Sisko's encounter with the aliens in the wormhole.
Dennis creates a rhythmic, electronic piece heard in the background of Quark's bar, no doubt a favorite on the Ferengi Top 40. For the finale Dennis unleashes the symphonic equivalent of a volley of photon torpedoes for the climatic battle sequence during which the Cardassians, convinced that the Federation is to blame for the destruction of one of their warships, launches a brutal attack on Deep Space Nine. The pace tempers down, then rebuilds to a crescendo as Sisko emerges from the wormhole with the Cardassian ship in tow. As our heroes look to the future of Bajoran independence and their strategic position in the galaxy, the symphony swells to a powerful climax of strings and brass.
As composer, arranger and orchestrator, Dennis has worked with such people as Glen Campbell and the late Alex north, whose score for "Wise Blood" he helped to orchestrate. He has developed a great rapport with many of his musicians, some of whom have continued to work with Dennis from his early work on "V" right up to STAR TREK: DEEP SPACE NINE. For the single versions of his theme for STAR TREK: DEEP SPACE NINE some of these musicians again perform, among them, guitarist George Doering, bass player Kenneth Wild, drummer Ralph Humphrey and synth player Jim Cox. Overseeing all of his scores in the dub room is longtime associate Dennis Yurosek.
Dennis McCarthy
Dennis McCarthy has been active on several television projects, including PARKER LEWIS CAN'T LOSE, MANCUSO: FBI, MacGYVER, LIFESTORIES, ISLAND SON and TINY TOONS. He has also scored many made-for-TV movies such as SWORN TO SILENCE, LEONA HELMSLEY: THE QUEEN OF MEAN, DADDY, KALEIDOSCOPE, SAM HOUSTON: THE LEGEND OF TEXAS and OVERKILL.
Dennis is a six-time winner of the ASCAP Scoring Award and has been nominated for an Emmy Award four times for his work on STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION for the episodes "The Child", "Yesterday's Enterprise", "Half a Life" and "Unification, Part 1" which won him the Emmy in 1992.
He has made two previous recordings with GNP Crescendo Records of his scores for "Encounter at Farpoint" and Suites from "Yesterday's Enterprise", "Unification, Parts 1 and 2" and "Hollow Pursuits." Dennis resides with his wife, Patti and their three children, Dennis, John and Kristine in Burbank, California.
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