DS9 MBTI: Family Week

Since the man in charge of Deep Space Nine was a father, the themes of family—both those we’re born into and the ones we choose—filtered through the whole saga. Set in one stationary place, the show had time to visit the same characters week after week, and as the years went by, the family grew larger. Many guest stars found themselves with whole arcs and even whole episodes to themselves.

This part of the series will take us through a mini-family reunion and see how the supporting characters filled out the personality of DS9.

(And a heads up—after examining Ben’s interactions with the two big Extraverted Judgers in his life, I found even more evidence of his inferior-Te at work, cementing his typing as an INFP. I’ve since updated his profile with a bit of this extra info.)

INFP: Benjamin Sisko, “Star Trek: Deep Space Nine”

INFP – the Healer, the Dreamer, the Clarifier

The revelation that Sisko is an INFP hit me one day like a ton of latinum bricks. I was trying to explain his moody attitude in the first episode compared to his later boldness. Cycling through a half-dozen or more different types and cognitive functions, I suddenly recognized the Fi-Si loop. I’ve been in one many a time, and now that I know we share the same type, I wish I had more of the positive aspects of my favorite Star Trek captain’s personality in common with him. But Star Trek is about nothing so much as aspiration, so I hope all the shy INFPs out there can look to this commanding example of the INFP as a figure of power and passion.

Dominant Function: (Fi) Introverted Feeling, “The Deep Well”

Once Sisko believes in something, his intensity can be scary, even to the family and crew who know him well. Witness his fury for fighting the Dominion, hunting down Eddington, or saving Bajor.

When he first takes the DS9 assignment, this intensity is in danger of trickling away. Sisko is stuck deep in an Fi-Si loop in the wake of his wife Jennifer’s death at the hands of the Borg, and he’s become withdrawn, directionless, and moody. Meeting the wormhole aliens grants him the emotional catharsis he needs to properly grieve Jennifer’s loss, and he returns to his mission with renewed energy.

Over the years, the assignment takes on greater personal meaning for Ben—he is “of Bajor,” and he calls DS9 the place where he belongs.

For all his passion, Ben usually keeps a reserved, somewhat brooding composure. His bond with his son Jake appears through warmth, physical affection, and shared meals. He and his eventual new wife Kasidy strike sparks together instantly, but he has trouble voicing his feelings at certain awkward points in their relationship. For a long time, he won’t join the DS9 crew at Vic’s, until Kasidy drags out of him that he morally objects to joining a re-creation of a time and place where brown people like themselves weren’t allowed.

DS9 MBTI: Captain Sisko, an Introduction

Sisko had a great pilot episode. In “Emissary,” he took an emotional arc through one episode that some characters don’t get to do for an entire series. After that, though, he seemed to fade into the background of his own show. Breakout characters like Kira and Odo stole the show for the while, and it wasn’t certain just what set this captain apart from the others.

That he was actually a commander, not a captain, was part of the problem.

Another big part was that actor Avery Brooks just wasn’t allowed to physically be the captain he knew he could be. He was cast as Star Trek’s first captain of color (at least as the lead of a series), and then costumed and written rather blandly. Once Sisko got his promotion, shaved his head, and grew his beard, he became a force to be reckoned with. Giving him his own ship, which he’d designed himself and chosen for a daring mission, literally put Ben in the captain’s seat of the show he was supposed to be leading.

Until then, pinning down the personality of this sometimes aggressive, sometimes brooding captain proved tricky.

A clue presented itself, however, in an early season one episode. “Q-Less” finds Star Trek’s favorite omnipotent troublemaker playing his usual schtick on the crew of DS9. Rather than join Q’s mind games, Sisko just punches the god-like being in the face.

Deep Space Nine MBTI

Deep Space Nine is my Trek, and Sisko is my Captain. I don’t say that to pick a fight. You can read my series on the previous Treks to see that I unabashedly geek out over them all.

DS9 though, was the one that caught me at the right time in life, a moodier take on Star Trek’s universe that got me through my teenage years. Thanks to the book The Making of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, a Christmas present from my Trekkie aunt, it also inspired me to follow my muse into film production and screenwriting. Like most of the stories I call my favorites, it is all about a makeshift family of misfits that finds a home and a mission together.

It thrills my heart that after all these years, Star Trek’s oft-neglected middle child has found new life and a new generation of fans through venues like Netflix and Tumblr—so much so that the new making-of documentary busted through its fundraising goals in a matter of days! Not to mention that most of the cast is active on Twitter, and can I tell you how my stomach flipped the day Aron Eisenberg replied to one of my tweets? In an age when representation in film and television is coming under close scrutiny, DS9 tells stories of strong women, queer characters, people of faith, and brown families—and did it over 20 years ago.

While it was criticized for its apparent “dark, gritty” take on the franchise at the time, DS9 turns out to hold some of the most hope for people these days who need its stories.

Deep Space Nine features complex characters with long arcs, so these profiles are a bit longer than most. To help with the reading, I’ve written an intro post for each of the lead characters that sums them up and provides a handy list of their best episodes for you to catch up on. Once the cast from the opening credits is covered, we’ll have themed weeks for the Ferengi, for Family, and of course for Villains.

(And note, that since DS9 was a show steeped in continuing storylines, spoilers will abound in these profiles for those who haven’t watched.)

Despite many re-watches over the years, I found these characters still had the ability to overturn my expectations. I expected Kira to be an Extravert. I expected Quark to be a Perceiver. I expected Sisko to have Te higher up in his stack. Some characters I wrote two full profiles of before I decided on their type.

But as Sisko said in the first episode:

“That may be the most important thing to understand about humans. It is the unknown that defines our existence. We are constantly searching, not just for answers to our questions, but for new questions. We are explorers. We explore our lives, day by day. And we explore the galaxy, trying to expand the boundaries of our knowledge. And that is why I am here. Not to conquer you with weapons or ideas, but to co-exist and learn.”

Preach it, Ben.

(P.S. Worf won’t be featured in this series, since he already got his profile in the TNG run. Chief O’Brien, however, will finally get his write-up now that he’s a full series regular.)