Summary
- David Carson directed iconic Star Trek episodes like "Yesterday's Enterprise" and "Redemption, Part II," showcasing his talent for storytelling.
- Carson's transition from directing Star Trek television episodes to feature films, like Star Trek Generations, solidified his place in Trek history.
- With only two directors, David Carson and Jonathan Frakes, having directed both Star Trek TV episodes and feature films, Carson's impact on the franchise is significant.
David Carson directed eight Star Trek television episodes and one feature film. Carson began his directing career in British theater and television, and Star Trek: The Next Generation was one of his first gigs upon coming to the US. TNG's producers liked Carson's directing style and brought him back several times throughout the series. Not only did Carson direct one of TNG's most famous episodes in "Yesterday's Enterprise," but he also helmed Star Trek Generations, the movie featuring Captain Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart) and the USS Enterprise-D crew.
David Carson directed four total episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generation, and was later asked to direct "Emissary," the feature-length premiere of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. Carson directed three more episodes of DS9, before moving on to other projects. Carson may not have quite as prolific a Star Trek directing resume as Jonathan Frakes, but he brought several iconic episodes to life over the years. Here are all nine Star Trek episodes and movie directed by David Carson.
David Carson and Jonathan Frakes remain the only two people to have directed both Star Trek television episodes and feature films.
9 "The Enemy"
Star Trek: The Next Generation Season 3, Episode 7
David Carson's Star Trek directorial debut, Star Trek: The Next Generation's "The Enemy," picks up after the USS Enterprise-D answers a distress call and finds an injured Romulan on a planet near the Neutral Zone. Lt. Commander Geordi La Forge (LeVar Burton) finds himself stranded on the storm-ridden planet, and he must work with another Romulan survivor to make it back to the Enterprise alive.
David Carson adds some flair to an already well-written episode.
When a Romulan warbird arrives to investigate, CaptainPicard must smooth things over with Romulan Commander Tomalak (Andreas Katsulas) to avoid inciting a war. "The Enemy" has a lot of moving parts, but all of the stories are interconnected and play off of one another well. Between the stormy planet and some cool shots through Geordi's VISOR, David Carson adds some flair to an already well-written episode.
8 "Yesterday's Enterprise"
Star Trek: The Next Generation Season 3, Episode 15
"Yesterday's Enterprise" remains one of Star Trek: The Next Generation's most iconic and beloved episodes for a reason. Not only does it feature the return of Denise Crosby as Lt. Tasha Yar, but it also offers a glimpse into a previous version of the USS Enterprise. When the Enterprise-D encounters a rift in spacetime, the heavily damaged USS Enterprise-C emerges from the wormhole. At this moment, the universe shifts, and the Enterprise-D is now a warship involved in a bitter war with the Klingon Empire.
Tasha Yar is alive, but pretty much everything else about this universe is worse than the original one. In the end, the Enterprise-C must travel back through the wormhole on a suicide mission that will save the future. The proper timeline is restored for the Enterprise-D, with only the El-Aurian bartender Guinan (Whoopi Goldberg) sensing that something significant has transpired.
"Yesterday's Enterprise" truly fires on all cylinders, and David Carson does a great job of making the warship Enterprise-D feel very different from the Enterprise viewers are used to.
7 "Redemption, Part II"
Star Trek: The Next Generation Season 5, Episode 1
In Star Trek: The Next Generation, "Redemption, Part I," Lt. Worf (Michael Dorn) and Captain Picard help install Gowron (Robert O'Reilly) as the Chancellor of the Klingon High Council. In response, the Duras sisters, Lursa (Barbara March) and B'Etor (Gwynyth Walsh), work with the Romulans to incite a Klingon civil war. After "Redemption, Part I" ends with the reveal of Commander Sela (Denise Crosby), the half-Romulan daughter of Lt. Tasha Yar, "Redemption, Part II" involves a tense stand-off with a blockade of Federation ships.
Meanwhile, the Duras sisters kidnap Worf, attempting to win him over to their cause to no avail. In one of the ships among the blockade, Lt. Commander Data (Brent Spiner) overcomes prejudice and insubordinate officers to save the day by detecting Romulan ships hiding nearby. "Redemption, Part II" has a lot going on, and it doesn't all work, but Klingon politics are always interesting, and it's great to see Data get a chance to command.
6 "The Next Phase"
Star Trek: The Next Generation Season 5, Episode 24
When the USS Enterprise-D responds to a distress call from a Romulan ship, Lt. Geordi La Forge and Ensign Ro Laren (Michelle Forbes) are presumed lost in a transporter malfunction. In reality, however, Geordi and Ro have become out of phase with the rest of the ship. They can interact with one another, but can only observe what's going on around them. Eventually, they discover that an out-of-phase Romulan has been following them.
The Next Phase" is a fun episode focusing on two underutilized characters in Geordi and Ro.
After dispatching the Romulan, Geordi and Ro work to find a way to contact their friends, while Data plans a funeral for them. At the funeral, Ro uses a disrupter to release a burst of chronoton radiation, which alerts Data to their situation, and he helps bring them back into phase. With its classic science fiction premise, "The Next Phase" is a fun episode focusing on two underutilized characters in Geordi and Ro.
5 Star Trek Generations
Released on November 18, 1994
David Carson's first foray into film directing came when he was asked to direct Star Trek Generations, after Leonard Nimoy turned down the opportunity. As the first feature film for Star Trek: The Next Generation crew, Star TrekGenerations was the historic first team-up and passing of the torch from Captain James T. Kirk (William Shatner) to Captain Picard. Star Trek Generations opens with the christening of the USS Enterprise-B, with Kirk, Montgomery Scott (James Doohan), and Pavel Chekov (Walter Koenig) all in attendance.
When the shakedown cruise turns into a rescue mission, Kirk is presumed lost after a hull breach on the Enterprise. Star TrekGenerations then jumps 78 years into the future, where Captain Picard and his crew are pulled into a mission to stop the El-Aurian Dr. Tolian Soran (Malcolm McDowell) from killing millions in an attempt to reach the Nexus realm. Picard and Kirk team up to stop Soran, which results in Kirk's death. David Carson also stages the spectacular destruction and crash-landing of the USS Enterprise-D.
David Carson went on to direct two more feature films: 1998's Letters from a Killer starring Patrick Swayze and 2004's Unstoppable starring Wesley Snipes.
4 "Emissary"
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Season 1, Episodes 1 & 2
In one of Star Trek's best series premieres, Commander Benjamin Sisko (Avery Brooks) arrives on space station Deep Space Nine, which the Cardassians have recently vacated. When a Bajoran spiritual leader tells Sisko that he is the Emissary of the Bajoran Prophets, she gives him a strange orb that leads him to a wormhole connected to the Gamma Quadrant. On the space station, Major Kira Nerys (Nana Visitor) orders DS9 to move to the wormhole and stalls some angry Cardassians.
Sisko speaks with the strange beings inhabiting the wormhole, convincing them to allow ships to pass through. As he contemplates his own future, Sisko decides to remain on the station and try to move on from his past. With its powerful opening flashback sequence and compelling character introductions, "Emissary" does a wonderful job revealing DS9's connections to the greater Star Trek universe and establishing what kind of show it would be.
3 "Dax"
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Season 1, Episode 8
Although the Trill had been briefly introduced on Star Trek: The Next Generation, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine's Lt. Jadzia Dax (Terry Farrell) allowed Star Trek to fully explore this strange species. In "Dax," a man named Ilon Tandro (Gregory Itzin) accuses Dax's previous host, Curzon, of murdering his father and he wants to punish Jadzia for the crime. This raises an interesting philosophical debate that the episode wrestles with without finding a definitive answer.
Constable Odo (René Auberjonois) tracks down Ilon's mother Enina Tandro (Fionnula Flanagan), who provides an alibi for Curzon and secretly reveals to Dax that her husband betrayed his own people and was murdered for it. In the end, Curzon is cleared of the murder and the viewer learns a little more about Jadzia, the Dax symbiont, and Trills in general. "Dax" offers a compelling look into one of Star Trek's most unique species.
2 "Move Along Home"
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Season 1, Episode 10
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine's notorious "Move Along Home," a Gamma Quadrant species known as the Wadi arrive on the space station with a strange game called Chula. When Quark (Armin Shimerman) agrees to play, he finds himself controlling the station's senior officers as players within the game, progressing through a series of puzzles. Commander Sisko, Major Kira, Lt. Dax, and Dr. Julian Bashir (Alexander Siddig) then make their way through various levels of the game.
When the players fall off a mountain to their apparent deaths, they find themselves back in Quark's bar. The Wadi delegate Falow (Joel Brooks) reveals that their lives were never in any danger, but he neglected to tell them that earlier as a lesson to Quark about his cheating. With its high-concept story, "Move Along Home" suffered from budget constraints and is often regarded as one of DS9's worst episodes.
In Star Trek: Lower Decks season 4, episode 3, "In the Cradle of Vexilon," Lt. Sam Rutherford (Eugene Cordero) hilariously speed runs through a game of Chula.
1 "The Alternate"
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Season 2, Episode 12
As one of Constable Odo's best Star Trek: DS9 episodes, "The Alternate" dives into the Changeling's past when the Bajoran scientist who first studied Odo visits the station. Dr. Mora Pol (James Sloyan) believes he has found another life form like Odo, and the two go to investigate. After being affected by volcanic gasses on the planet, Odo begins unknowingly attacking people on DS9 while in his gelatinous form.
Realizing that Odo is the culprit, Mora informs Sisko and Kira, and they contain Odo within a force field before removing the gas from his system. Throughout this ordeal, Mora realizes that he has been ignoring Odo's feelings regarding life at the Bajoran laboratory. In the end, both Mora and Odo apologize to one another and they part on better terms. And David Carson's Star Trek career comes to an end with a solid entry about one of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine's most compelling characters.
