DS 9 is simply the best of the Star Trek series, and, I suspect, will eventually emerge from its black sheep status and be remembered as the most mature and compelling SF series of the 20th century.
So what makes it so good? The whole overarching concept about Bajor, the wormhole aliens, Cisco's origins and destiny, the tension between different races and characters, and (perhaps most of all) the _continuity_ once the Dominion War begins (in many ways the last four seasons are more like one collossal 75-hour movie than a series of discreet episodes).
If there is a fault to DS9 it is probably that it took some time to hit its straps. The early seasons were not up to the quality of seasons 4-7, but when Worf arrives, The Defiant arrives, Cisco shaves his head, and The Dominion set their sites on the Alpha Quadrant, you have yourselves a hands down classic for the final 4 seasons.
Character development and personal relationships are handled far more satisfyingly and richly here than in any other ST series. There is nothing elsewhere in the ST franchise to compare with the Odo/Kira relationship (or even the Odo/Quark, Bashir/O'brien relationships if it comes to that). There are no dud major characters (even if Avery Brooks is given to occaisional fits of extreme over-acting) - and nestled in amongst the Dominion War story arc somewhere is that one little jewel of an episode where the entire cast are working for a SF pulp magazine in the late 40's - an absolute pearler that I could watch over and again.
I became far more emotionally attached to the characters of DS9 than any other Start Trek series. I recently re-watched the whole thing on video, and was genuinely sad to see it end, all over again.
Damn, I miss that show. They could have run it forever as far as I'm concerned. The really sad thing is, it was such a perfectly self-contained story that there is almost no prospect of any DS9 movies - which is doubly tragic, if the Next Generation movies are going to finish with Nemesis.
Or maybe not. Let's face it; Star Trek has failed on the big screen more often than it has scored. Where it really belongs is on the small screen, and DS 9 is the pinnacle of its achievement in that media, in my opinion.
So what makes it so good? The whole overarching concept about Bajor, the wormhole aliens, Cisco's origins and destiny, the tension between different races and characters, and (perhaps most of all) the _continuity_ once the Dominion War begins (in many ways the last four seasons are more like one collossal 75-hour movie than a series of discreet episodes).
If there is a fault to DS9 it is probably that it took some time to hit its straps. The early seasons were not up to the quality of seasons 4-7, but when Worf arrives, The Defiant arrives, Cisco shaves his head, and The Dominion set their sites on the Alpha Quadrant, you have yourselves a hands down classic for the final 4 seasons.
Character development and personal relationships are handled far more satisfyingly and richly here than in any other ST series. There is nothing elsewhere in the ST franchise to compare with the Odo/Kira relationship (or even the Odo/Quark, Bashir/O'brien relationships if it comes to that). There are no dud major characters (even if Avery Brooks is given to occaisional fits of extreme over-acting) - and nestled in amongst the Dominion War story arc somewhere is that one little jewel of an episode where the entire cast are working for a SF pulp magazine in the late 40's - an absolute pearler that I could watch over and again.
I became far more emotionally attached to the characters of DS9 than any other Start Trek series. I recently re-watched the whole thing on video, and was genuinely sad to see it end, all over again.
Damn, I miss that show. They could have run it forever as far as I'm concerned. The really sad thing is, it was such a perfectly self-contained story that there is almost no prospect of any DS9 movies - which is doubly tragic, if the Next Generation movies are going to finish with Nemesis.
Or maybe not. Let's face it; Star Trek has failed on the big screen more often than it has scored. Where it really belongs is on the small screen, and DS 9 is the pinnacle of its achievement in that media, in my opinion.