colored wisps of nebulae added to the background starfield. Accordingly, the solo trumpet (preceded by a solo French horn) featured prominently in the main theme by Dennis McCarthy to accentuate the lonely isolation of the outpost was augmented by a chorus of brass as the station attained a more bustling atmosphere following the presence of the wormhole. The digital effects were done in standard definition and thus the series cannot be re-released in HD format without re-doing the special effects. Episodes Overall 176 episodes of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine would be produced with an average run-time of 43 minutes each. Geek.com calculated 126 hours of total viewing time for the series. The show debuted in January 1993 with the double-episode "The Emissary", half-way through the 6th season of The Next Generation. This is the first time that two Star Trek franchise series aired concurrently, which would continue until DS9 ended in 1999, except for late 1994, when Next Generation ended and DS9 was alone on the air. But in the next year, Star Trek: Voyager aired on the then-new UPN network, so that once again two shows from the franchise aired. The most acclaimed episodes of DS9 include these: "In the Pale Moonlight", in which Sisko wrestles with compromising his ethics to win the Dominion War; "The Visitor", in which an elderly Jake Sisko tries desperately to undo the loss of his father; and "Far Beyond the Stars", in which Sisko has a vision of himself as a writer coping with racism in 20th-century New York. Reception Although DS9s ratings remained solid, it was never as successful as the syndicated Star Trek: The Next Generation, with approximately 6% versus 11% of US households watching during sweeps months. However, it continued to perform better than its franchise sibling Star Trek: Voyager, which averaged around 5% according to the Nielsen ratings. One factor was the increasingly crowded syndicated marketplace, which provided viewers with a number of alternative television series to follow. Another factor was the minimal promotion for DS9, as Paramount focused its efforts on its flagship network series Star Trek: Voyager. From 1995 onwards, most of the independent stations joined new networks (UPN and The WB), and these primetime shows gradually pushed syndicated programming into less favorable time slots as the US television market expanded from four networks (in 1987 when TNG premiered) to six. Critical reception DS9 was well