I can not just get my head around the whole concept; I work and can’t really watch it I can only manage to watch a couple of episodes so can anyone really tell me what happening?
*Why did the dominion war start
*What is the concept of the dominion
*What will happen at the end
*How come the Federation are doing so badly?
Geez, all the replies here will be paragraphs long, but i’ll try:
The Dominion is a government from the Gamma quadrent. The leaders of the Dominion are the Founders, or Changlings. Odo is a changling. The Changlings were persicuted by non-Changelings, or Solids, so they formed a government system where they controlled solids. They created the Jem’Hadar to be their soldiers, and the Vorta to be their Administrators. The Vorta were originally a tree-dwelling Ape that helped some Changlings hide, and were evolved forward as a reward. The Jem’Hadar and Vorta worship the Founders as gods.
The Dominion were originally mad at the Federation’s travels through the Bajoran Wormhole and treatened any ship which entered the Gamma quadrent. It was later realized that the Dominion did not control the Gamma Quadrent space near the exit to the wormhole, so their claims were invalid. Changlings entered Alpha quadrent societies disguised as various people, and disrupted activities, most notably by convincing the Cardassian Obsidian Order and the Romulan Tal Shiar to combine forces and destroy the Founders homeworld, but it was a trap and the Obsidian Order and Tal Shiar were decimated. The Destruction of the Obsidian Order allowed a civilian uprising on Cardassia, installing a civilian government. This caused the Klingons to believe that the Founders did this, so they invaded Cardassia. (the Klingons were unduely influenced by a Founder disguised as a Klingon General named Martok) Gul Dukat was full of sorrow to see his beloved Cardassia in ruins, so he joined with the Dominion and installed a government run by him, under the Vorta Weyoun and the Founders. This gave the Dominion a foothold in the Alpha Quadrent.
The Federation and Klingons put aside any general troubles and allied together to face this new threat. A cold war developed, while the Dominion Armed Cardassia for war. Sisko had had enough, and under Starfleet orders, Mined the wormhole entrance. This caused the Cardassian/Dominion fleet to attack DS9, and a war to start. The station was abandoned, left to the care of Bajor, which welcomed the Dominion (because they had no choice). The DS9 battle was a ruse while Klingon/Fed forces attacked dominion shipyards. The tide then turned as the Feds and Klingons were continually pounded by Dominion forces, as the ships are more powerful, and Jem’Hadar troops can be grown in a few days.
A combined Federation/Klingon fleet battled their way to DS9 to stop the de-mining of the wormhole, but arrived seconds too late. Sisko entered the wormhole, contacted the wormhole aliens, and convinced them to take care of a 2500 ship fleet of Dominion ships that were heading for the Alpha Quadrent. The ships promptly disappeared, forcing a Dominion retreat. Dukat went crazy, and a Cardassian named Damar was put in charge of the government. As a drunk, he was thought easy to control.
A stalemate arose between the Fed/Klingons and the Dominion, until Sisko and Garak tricked the Romulans into joining on the Fed/Klingon side. The Alpha fleet was slowly creeping into Dominion space, until the Breen *picture:*http://decipher.com/startrek/cardlists/thetroublewithtribbles/large/thotgor.html joined on the side of the Dominion, and attacked Earth. The Defiant was destroyed by Breen forces and their new energy weapon. here is a cool picture: http://decip
her.com/startrek/cardlists/thetroublewithtribbles/large/breenenergydampeningweapon.html
Damar saw the Breen as the new favorites of the Dominion, and the treatment of Cardassians as Second Class citizens, and formed a underground resistance movement. A Giant combined fleet of Fed/Klingon/Rommies attacked the Dominion in a massive attack, and the Cardassian fleet switched sides, and joined the alliance. This forced the Dominion back to Cardassian, and caused the Founder leader to order the deaths of every Cardassian. Damar stormed the Dominian HQ, and took it, but not beofre dying himself. Garak killed the last Weyoun clone, and Odo talked to the Founder leader and convinced her to surrender.
War ends, but then crazy Dukat lets loose some Pah-Wraiths (evil wormhole aliens), and Sisko kills him and the Wormhole aliens take him into the wormhole where he remains to this day (as far as i can tell) Miles becomes a teacher at Starfleet Acadamy, Odo goes home to the Changelings, Worf becomes Ambassador to the Klingons (under new Chancellor Martok), and Rom becomes Grand Nagus of the Ferengi.
Time for lunch…
Well, I can’t help with 1-3, (B5 questions I can help with, but my Trek is pretty shaky)
#4, however, is almost certainly ‘Because the Federation is a bunch of pusses.’
*Why did the dominion war start
There was an invasion through the wormhole on which DS9 sat by the Dominion. They had earlier sent some of the Founders (shape shifter species of which Odo found out he was a member- this played a big role in the ultimate resolution) to impersonate/replace certain leaders- especially of the Klingons where the shapeshifters helped spark a minor war with the Klingons and the Federation, and then Klingons and Cardassians. The shapeshifters also tricked the secret police of the Romulans and Cardassians to send their personal fleets through the wormhole with fake information on the location of the Founder’s homeworld- it was a trap. The Jem’hedar (the genetically enginered warrior species of the Dominion) sprung the trap and slaughtered the 2 fleets.
Basically it was about the desire by the Founders for conquest and control of the Alpha quadrant (they had already taken control of their own), coupled with their loathing and fear of the “solids”.
*What is the concept of the dominion
It is the government/society of the Founder’s by which they controlled their part of space (the other side of the DS9 wormhole). The whole society was built around the worship of the Founders as Gods.
*What will happen at the end
If you have not seen it yet- one huge fleet battle with the Federation, Klingons and Romulans on one side and the Dominion, their somewhat unwilling lackeys- the Cardassians, and their very willing allies the Breen on the other. The battles are the best Trek ever IMHO, better than any other shows- the eye candy and plots were very good. In fact the last 2 years of DS9 were really strong overall. I will not spoil it for you other than to say the good guys win, but they really have to earn it.
*How come the Federation are doing so badly?
The Dominion and Cardassians had them vastly outnumbered to start, and their use of Founder’s for disinformation and distrust was very effective until the Federation, Klingons and Romulans caught on and tested everyone to make sure they were not Founders.
Also, until the Romulans joined up (based on one of the finest episodes of any Trek series- Avery Brooks was awe inspiring) the Federation-Klingon alliance was too weak to do anything but retreat and preserve as much as they could.
You have to watch the whole thing to get it. Like the song in the last episode said-- “the best is yet to come”.
Don’t know if anyone is still reading at this point, but this will be a must own DVD series.
-me
Oh my God. I looked at the thread title and thought “Huh! When was that war? Never heard of it, and me a historian.” I assumed it was some 19th century imperialism trouble. . .
Hey, I’ve always wondered something. In the series premiere, the wormhole aliens announced that they would never let the wormhole be used for a war of conquest, yet at least two battle fleets went through it (one each way).
Did I miss the episode where they explained how that was possible, or did they just overlook that little detail?
I think it’s called making it up as they went along.
Thanks for all the explanations. I missed significant portions of DS9 and always wondered how things turned out.
One important, glossed-over point. General Martok had been captured and replaced by a changeling, and used his influence with Gowron to start the Federation-Klingon war. Once the changeling was unmasked, the real General Martok was rescued from a Dominion prison camp (along with Dr Bashir, who had also been replaced) and became the commander of the joint Federation/Klingon fleet.
Late in the series, Gowron made some really wasteful, stupid decisions that lead to the destruction of sorely-needed Klingon warships in unnecessary battles, and refused to stop throwing his fleet away.
------------[MAJOR SPOILER ALERT]----------------------
Worf finally had to challenge Gowron to a duel in order to try to save the Klingon fleet. Worf managed to kill Gowron (it was a very hard-fought duel) but refused to be appointed Chancellor by right of combat, instead nominating Martok to the position in his place. “I do not want this power” Martok says, to which Worf replies “That is why you must be Chancellor!” By the end of the series, Klingons are a common sight on DS9’s Promenade, and Federation and Klingon soldiers have fought side-by-side and forged a strong alliance, with a pro-Federation Chancellor and a Federation ambassador who is himself a Klingon.